Well, that was close. With just sixth months to go before the start of the new academic year, the government has confirmed that learners can continue to enrol on diplomas and extended diplomas in T Level subjects in 2026-27. Diplomas will continue to be available in 2027-28 (and until the relevant V Level is rolled out) alongside the all-important extended diploma in health and social care.
This is fantastic news. Today’s announcement will provide some much-needed certainty to staff and leaders in colleges, schools and universities. It will also reassure employers who were deeply concerned about the planned removal of these well-established pathways to key sectors of the economy.
But most importantly, it will avoid creating a qualifications gap that tens of thousands of learners would have fallen through.
The next two academic years are a crucial period in the transition to the new qualifications landscape. However promising the promised land looks, V Levels will only start being rolled out from 2027.
In July, the Protect Student Choice campaign published a report that showed scrapping diplomas and extended diplomas in T Level subjects would have led to 52,000 fewer young people studying health and science courses from 2026-27 (a 45 per cent reduction) and 11,000 fewer young people studying digital courses (a 33 per cent drop).
In November, a campaign survey of 150 school and college leaders found widespread concern about the plan to scrap diplomas and extended diplomas. The vast majority of leaders believed this would lead to an increase in the number of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in their local area.
We shared the survey report with the Department for Education, and we are pleased that officials and ministers took the findings seriously.
It would have made little sense for the government to commission Alan Milburn to explore to how to reduce the number of NEET young people, while simultaneously pursuing a policy that leaders predict would have the opposite effect.
Leaving students without a suitable qualification for two years would also have been bad for economic growth and would have made it much harder for colleges and schools to engage positively or effectively in the development of V Levels.
Taken together, that is why we have continued to make a robust case for this further pause to the defunding of existing qualifications.
Today’s announcement greatly reduces the risk of young people being left without a pathway in the transition to the new qualifications landscape. We are also pleased that the case to retain three pathways in that future landscape – academic, applied and technical qualifications – has been well and truly heard.
As a result, the Protect Student Choice campaign will now go through a transition of its own. We are proud of what has been achieved over the last five years.
Today marks the third pause to defunding since the start of the campaign. As a result, tens of thousands of students have been, and will be, able to study qualifications that would otherwise have been scrapped.
These are ‘level 3 ready’ students who, for a variety of well-documented reasons, would struggle to access an A Level or T Level study programme, and in most cases would not flourish even if they did.
Retaining the option to study applied general qualifications has enabled many of these young people to progress to higher education and/or skilled employment and they will now be joined by at least two more cohorts of students.
We always prefer to work collaboratively with government, but there are times when it is necessary to challenge policymakers. The threat to diplomas and extended diplomas simply could not be ignored.
The Protect Student Choice coalition of 27 organisations (including FE Week) was able to leverage the collective strength of colleges and schools, universities and employers, and a cross-party group of parliamentarians to make the case for a final pause to defunding. That united front proved both powerful and effective.
Our hope now is that we can now work in a similarly collaborative way with the government to get V Levels right for young people. Today’s very welcome announcement provides the breathing space to do just that.
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